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Friday, June 17, 2016

Bong Joon-Ho's Netflix Creature Feature 'Okja' Digs Up New Plot And Character Details

South Korean auteur Bong Joon-ho is the mastermind behind
one of the greatest modern creature features, The Host. So
when we heard he’s returning to monster movie territory with the upcoming
Okja, we were understandably stoked. Then he put together an
incredible international cast along the same lines as
Snowpiercer, and we started drooling. Now some new details
have slithered out, and we may or may not have started dancing around the
office with glee.

At this point, we know Okja stars Tilda
Swinton, Jake Gyllenhaal, Paul Dano, Byun Hee-bong, Devon Bostick, Lily
Collins, Choi Woo-shik, Yoon Je-moon, Shirley Henderson, Daniel Henshall, and
Steven Yeun. Giancarlo Esposito also just joined up, and other names have been bandied about. The plot, as we understand
it, revolves around a young girl, Mija, who fights to prevent a multinational
corporation from kidnapping her best friend. That’s sound thriller territory,
but according to THR, the best friend is none other than a giant, genetically
altered pig. And it is the pig that is named Okja. (I can’t help but think of
Tony Jaa running around in Tom Yum Goong yelling, “Where’s
my elephant.”)

But that’s not all. Tilda Swinton will once again play
twins, which she did earlier this year in the Coen Brothers’ Hail, Caesar! She plays the head of the corporation that wants Okja for
their own nefarious aims, as well as this executive’s sister. Giancarlo
Esposito serves as her right-hand man, Jake Gyllenhaal plays a zoologist, and
Paul Dano is an animal rights activist.

Like Bong Joon-ho’s last film,
Snowpiercer, Okja will be in multiple
languages—primarily English and Korean—and it is currently filming now. Netflix
picked it up a while back, and Okja will hit the streaming
service, as well as get a limited theatrical run, in 2017.